The first regular-season game of the 2026–27 season will take place on Friday.
Zenit (St. Petersburg) vs. Uralmash (Yekaterinburg)
Time: 8:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. Moscow Time)
Venue: KSK Arena, St. Petersburg, Russia
Broadcast: Kinopoisk
Zenit : The offseason has been a challenging one for them. The team won just one friendly match. The blue-white-and-blue squad not only failed to qualify for the Super Cup medal round but also, surprisingly, failed to reach the final of the Kondrashin and Belov Cup—a tournament they’ve traditionally dominated in St. Petersburg.
But it’s too early to panic. At this stage, such results shouldn’t come as a surprise. The St. Petersburg team embarked on a rebuilding process this summer. And rebuilding is a marathon that takes time. Besides, initial assessments should be based on official matches, not friendlies.
And the season opener will already be a crucial one for the hosts. After all, they’ll be facing the very team that wants to break the Top 4’s established monopoly in the league. So the upcoming game will immediately serve as a test of the St. Petersburg team’s mettle. Zenit will have to prove to its fans that they should put the setbacks from the friendly matches behind them, because in official matches, this will be a completely different team.
And a victory over Uralmash will be the first step for Dusko Ivanovic’s team on their path back to the podium.
Zenit Head Coach Duško Ivanović: “This will be a tough match because we’re playing against a very good team. We know how strong this opponent is and understand what we need to do. It’s very important to play well defensively. We have to believe that we can win this match. With the support of our fans, we’ll be able to win.”
Uralmash, on the other hand, is entering the season with a completely different mindset. While Zenit is still recovering from a mixed preseason, the “Factory Boys” went through their preseason without a single loss. The team’s Russian core kicked things off with a brilliant performance at the Spartakiad. In the final, they gave the MBA’s starting lineup no chance. And with foreign players in the lineup, Anton Yudin’s team recently clinched the Ural-Great Cup by a wide margin.
The Uralmash team is entering the season in good shape. But we shouldn’t be misled by the results of their preseason friendlies. That’s because, during their preseason, Uralmash’s opponents were mostly teams they were expected to beat—and they did just that.
Official games are a whole different story. The revamped Uralmash has yet to face opponents of Zenit’s caliber. And this matchup could turn out to be an unpleasant surprise for the visitors. It’s one thing to get into shape under sheltered conditions, and quite another to face a team you’ve lost to more often than you’ve beaten in the past.
But if the Ural team plans to aim higher than fifth or sixth place, they’ll have to leave their comfort zone. And they’ll have to prove their ambitions in competitive conditions. The team certainly has those ambitions. Judging by their roster and preseason games, Uralmash has high hopes for this season.
Uralmash Head Coach Anton Yudin: “The start of the championship is, for the most part, always unpredictable. Because preseason games are just that—preseason games—while the regular season is a whole different story. So I think that for both us and Zenit, this is, to some extent, a nerve-wracking game.
Since they’re playing at home, they’ll have more support from their fans. We’ve analyzed our opponent, made certain adjustments, scouted them, and are preparing first and foremost for their tight defense and for defenders who are creative and capable of scoring themselves.
Basically, we’re going into this as prepared as we possibly could be.”
